by Mary E. Pearson
Set in the future at a time when there are many technological advances available, Jenna has been in a coma for a year and, at the start of the novel, she has only been awake for two weeks. Jenna has no memory of her past. None of it. She does not remember her parents, who adore her, or her grandmother, who is cold towards her. Her parents get her to watch home movies of her life to try to help her remember, but it really does no good. Jenna gradually begins to discover herself and the changes that she’s undergone since the accident that put her in a coma. She must accept the choices her parents made for her and the life that has resulted from those choices.
I thought the novel started off very slowly, but it picked up fairly quickly. I liked the idea that Jenna is a product of modern technology, bred from parents’ desperate love for their daughter. Jenna’s first person narrative voice sounded true and her developing relationship with her parents and her grandmother, Lily, helped establish the underlying conflict in the novel. I wondered about the title throughout the book and didn’t really understand it until near the very end. I felt empathy for Jenna’s parents and the heartache that resulted from their complete commitment to their daughter.
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